harz99

Great but, a) that doesn't answer the question, and B) the option to book in the UK without AI wasn't available previously on our last X cruise!

Thanks, couldn't remember as last couple of X cruises have been AI so didn't need the net perk👍

Can someone kind person please remind me if the internet minutes can only be used as one continuous block, or is it possible to log on/off over several days just to check emails/socials etc.?

I guess we'll both have to wait...

Is there one, the UK allocated ship always used to reposition back to Genoa? I've been looking for a repo from the US back to UK/EU that same month and it seems that it'll be sometime in July/August before those itineraries are released.

No exaggeration at all, we're 60+ cruises all over the world, multiple bumpy trips across Bay of Biscay and around Cape Horn and have never experienced quite such rough seas and high winds as that night. The ship had a pronounced list due to the side on wind, water getting in in many areas particularly from the prominade doors along deck 7, and a very bumpy ride over the troughs in the waves. Our cabin was on deck 8 forward and we spent most of the night awake and holding on to the beds because sleep was impossible. I imagine very few crew members slept that night, and they all had to work again as usual the following day. That ship is as tough as they come, despite her age she handle the violent storm and motion well!

Not a thing , some sort of twisted marketing hype! Maybe so few people take them up on the offer they think they can con us into thinking we're getting something new...

@villauk@villauk,@villauk@villauk, i just had a sale email from BA, so just out of interest i looked again at their flights LHR to ATH for my dates, almost £490 each return!!!

Certainly won't be me!

My 75th birthday falls mid cruise which is really why we're going. I was looking at ex SOU with P&O or MSC for that time, but would've been shorter, no E+ perks and a lot cooler for near same money in total. X won this time!

X quoted me over £800 for EJ flights! Two people, with luggage of 2x 23kg cases LGW 0635, return ex ATH 1210. Did my own booking same flights for £728...all the dates for the April cruises are similar or worse, and there are still plenty of seats free on those flights.

As a result flights to Athens are going through the roof with Easyjet and BA though....

As far as i can see the only genuine sale deals are on the ship which was to do the Israel ports in 2024, i jumped on a 10 night sailing from Piraeus in April for an OV on deck 3 midships at a little over £600 person cruise only with 300usd OBC which pays most of the grats. Being Elite+ status we have no need of any all inclusive (not) bits

There is a "Late night snacks" offering in Ocean View from around 10/11pm, a few bits of cold cuts, salad and staleish breads, with some pre - made rolls which looked to be lacking in the filling department, and slices of pizza. I ended up making my own sandwich from whatever was available as despite asking/pleading and messaging the Restaurant Manager they couldn't/wouldn't consistently provide a dairy free option (cheese with everything).

So if you've just boarded, would that be the lunch buffet you're talking about, or the first evening buffet?

I find the Dal is too watery for me, not helped by the staff adding random splashes of water when the pan starts to dry out on the warm plate...

By far the best baked beans!

Oh well, on current reports you won't be enjoying those food options at Ocean View in the evening again...

I do wonder how many of the people entitled to dine in Luminae, ever go into the Ocean View Cafe of an evening...

Lol, we had an MDR waiter who kept mumbling to himself and was a tad slow serving for first 2 nights, then he went sick, and we lucked out with a lad from Qsine next night, then an absolutely top notch lass from Bali until the final evening when the mumbler was back. Food was so so at times but we didn't starve...as to MDR Restaurant Management, I've noticed that the last few years very few of them seem willing to get hands on or interact with diners, and also the Maitre D in charge of Tuscan/Murano whom we encounteted during the Elite breakfasts had a really poor attitude.

It didn't start well for us...despite doing all the online bits and printing out boarding passes, they didn't work with the tablet holding girls, so we waited while that was sorted manually, got our cards and embarked only to find we couldn't access our booked deck 3 OV cabin as the area was locked off, Qing at guest services to sort this out then i noticed the cabin number on our keycards had changed! Turns out that for several cruises they'd been using the section where we should have been as quarantine cabins, fair enough but i shouldn't be finding that out at embarkation, nor should i be finding out that the replacement was an INSIDE on deck 10 - we booked on 3 for a reason, everything we want during the cruise is on 3/4/5, except for the Sky Lounge🙄, and Ocean View Cafe for port day lunch. An hour later the matter was sorted, we were given a deck 3 OV about 4 doors up from the sectioned of bit, you can imagine my thoughts on why they didn't just reallocate us to that one anyway... Anyway, so many other service related matters were simply not up to previous standards that it'd just be too negative to go through them all...

We are 2 long term non suite Celebrity cruisers at E-plus loyalty level, quite frankly with all the cutbacks and changes we no longer feel valued in any way by Celebrity, the product is not deserving of the price being asked in any way shape or form, having taken a Canaries cruise on Silhouette last October to use up our FCCs from covid cancellations, i cannot see us ever taking another cruise on this line. Of course there will be plenty of newbies to take our place - they (X) hope!

Thanks, maybe it is only the S class ships as the Tuscan on them has that big non carpeted entrance area for the buffet stations, misinformation from the Maitre D...🙄

the problem with the Festive Events appears to be that there isn't sufficient time between the lunch event guests finishing up and leaving, and the evening guests on first dinner arriving for alloted check in at 1540/1600, so everyone is held up and delays built up with the result that diners for the 1800 sitting were still turning up at 1820, and so on. The second sitting was pushed back 30 minutes to 2030 as a direct consequence.

no use as only one night, most UK travel insurance only covers you for stays of two night's or longer. In the event we managed to find a way of getting there involving a 75 minute bus journey to get to Durham and trains from there to London and on to Tilbury Town and anothet short bus ride to the ship. Have to say the experiences at the check in and onboard left us slightly underwhelmed though, and Tilbury is not a place I'd consider sailing from in future either.